some of you may be familiar with this thread: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1307986, and I think my issue stems from that. I've been going back and forth with the authorities that be and I'm kind of beside myself since they have been less than helpful. i'll try to keep this short.
my story is that I was suspended about two weeks ago for abusing the report function after reporting two off topic posts. please tell me if I am crazy or that these were, in fact, off topic. this suspension came about a week before I could apply for posting rights in the GB, just in time for playoffs. now I have to wait two months. I like to consider myself a decent member and I'm beside myself that this has happened.
Heart and competitive fire: Jordan>>>Kobe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>LeBron
id actually say Kobe > MJ for competitive fire. And thats no dig at MJ. Kobe was borderline mental in regards to basketball.
There is no evidence that Kobe is more competitive. Given some of his performances, there is some to suggest he was less so. He's still a vicious competitor to a degree not matched by anyone off of the top of my head currently in the league but Jordan was quite literally pathologically obsessed with victory. Kobe's got a touch more "I wanna look good" than MJ.
am I crazy or are those at least slightly off topic?
anyways, I serve my 12 hour suspension and contact a global moderator, who shall remain nameless. convo below.
Spoiler:
this is the correspondence we have (starting with me):
Hi, I was just handed a 12-hour ban and I was wondering what for... wondering if you can help me find out.
thanks
Blatant abuse of the report function. You reported a post that was directly on topic because you didn't agree with the poster's comments.
I hope you believe me when I say that it was not my intention to abuse the report function, as I value it highly and think it is important to make moderator's jobs easier. I simply saw a post that was off topic and had the potential to bait people, derailing the conversation. I saw no connection between heart/competitive fire and skill and/or athleticism and since there were multiple >>>'s it had a baiting tone, in my eye.
if it was felt that no action was necessary then I would respect that decision but I am pretty disappointed that I was banned, since I was genuinely trying to help.
Banned, you mean your 12-hour suspension?
sorry yes, it was a 12-hour suspension.
You were frivolously using the report function and have a history of baiting and backseat moderating (which led to your ban from the GB).
The suspension should serve as a clear reminder to consider your actions more carefully.
reporting two off topic posts is considered frivolous?
and my history with backseat moderating is one that I have paid and apologized for, I think my clean record since that incident demonstrates that. if reporting posts is considered backseat moderating (which is not allowed on these forums), then why is it an option for members?
and I'm uncertain what the incident of me baiting has to do with this issue. am I not allowed to report when others might be baiting because I have baited in the past?
whitehops wrote:reporting two off topic posts is considered frivolous?
When neither were off-topic, yes. One of them was explicitly answering the question posed by the OP, which made it a real puzzler why you would report it.
and my history with backseat moderating is one that I have paid and apologized for, I think my clean record since that incident demonstrates that. if reporting posts is considered backseat moderating (which is not allowed on these forums), then why is it an option for members?
For reaponsible and sensible posters.
and I'm uncertain what the incident of me baiting has to do with this issue. am I not allowed to report when others might be baiting because I have baited in the past?
When you make odd, ridiculous reports and you have a history of poor judgement and infraction against the TOS, you have established a baseline of disruptive behavior. You can report posts, but there is no dancing around how flagrantly obvious it was that those posts should not have been reported. That is frivolous and an abuse of the intended purpose of the report function.
thank you for clarification and taking the time to respond.
whitehops
Cheers, and thank you for taking the time to have polite discourse; it is a refreshing change of pace from the usual rage and slander.
Have a good one, hops.
sorry to bring this back up, but I was looking through the forum rules and it didn't say anything about abusing the report function. can you link me the rules where it's published?
thanks
(me again) sorry i'm sure you guys have been busy with the forum upgades and whatnot, I was just following up about this question.
It's an extension of other principles of the forum like baiting. Wastefully using the report function inappropriately is essentially advancing a personal agenda against another poster/opinion.
Thanks for the clarification. Can I suggest that it is explicitly stated or mentioned as an extension of baiting next time the forum rules are updated? it might be a little confusing to new members if they get suspended for a rule that isn't published, especially for something that could be easily avoided.
It will be reviewed.
I felt that I needed a second opinion so I contacted an administrator, who will also remain unnamed. this is our convo:
Spoiler:
Really sorry to bother you (name withheld), but I have been contacting a moderator to get some clarification of a suspension I was given and I feel like I wasn't receiving the most honest communication.
*explains situation*
I felt that both were off topic as they didn't talk about skill or athleticism, and I thought the first post might have been potential for baiting. I have been communicating with tsherkin all day and I can provide exact quotes if you want/need but the gist of what he has said was that the reports were frivolous because the posts were blatantly on topic and one even explicitly answered the question posed in the original post. I really fail to see how either of those statements is true so I was wondering if I could get a third opinion, if you will.
Again, sorry to bother you with all this and normally I wouldn't mind, however if I have read the rules correctly this suspension prohibits me from regaining posting access to the General Board, which I would very much like to have. I have really tried to clean up my act and be a positive and helpful member (hence reporting posts I thought broke forum policies) and I would hate not be able to contribute positively in the general board because of this, since I was reporting these posts with good intent.
Thank you for your time (name withheld),
whitehops
whitehops,
You were given a 12 hour suspension for abusing the report function. I do stand by the decision of the Moderate to do the suspension.
You ma appeal your GB Read-Only Access status at the end of May.
Okay, I have a follow-up question. How am I suspended for breaking a rule that isn't published? I have looked at the general forum rules: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1267700 and the rules on the Player Comparison board and neither say anything about abusing the report function, they don't even hint at it.
I have been very careful to follow forum rules since my last warning (which was out of ignorance), so I hope you believe me when I say I would have erred on the side of caution when trying to report posts if I was aware of this rule.
whitehops,
Abusing the report function is a violation.
a violation of what?
(me again) Sorry (name withheld), I'm sure you've been busy with the forum upgrades (which look good, by the way) but I was just following up about this question. what exactly is 'abusing' the report function a violation of? I was just wondering because I couldn't find it published anywhere in the forum policies so I was wondering what it was violating.
Thanks, whitehops
whitehops,
It's reporting frivulous violations and consistently doing it.
sorry Howard but that's not answering my question. saying 'it's a violation' doesn't mean anything by itself. it has to violate specific terms, published rules, certain policies, etc. to be considered a violation.
i'm asking what exactly it violates, since it is not published in any forum rules that I was able to find.
whitehops,
Your not allowed to abuse the report function.
It's that simple.
is it a violation of this 'abusing the report function' rule to report an off-topic post by a moderator? just curious because I strongly suspect that a moderator suspended me out of spite for reporting his off-topic post. I reported the post that was initially off-topic as well.
having said moderator review the case I believe is a conflict of interest, no?
(me again) just following up
whitehops,
I already answered your question.
am I crazy or have I really been screwed over? in my mind, I was: - wrongly suspended for a rule that isn't even published to begin with - my case was reviewed by the moderator that suspended me, and the one who's post I reported - directly lied to by said moderator once I contacted them - given one-line answers by the administrator (not sure if he even read my messages tbh) - clearly they both know that the rule isn't legit otherwise they would have directly quoted where it was published. essentially suspended for a rule that was made up. - this all stemmed from some more anti-heat bias
sorry for the length lol, I guess I couldn't keep it short.
8 G: James Harden | Kris Dunn G: Bradley Beal | Josh Richardson F: Paul George | Svi Mykhailiuk F: Neemias Queta| Daniel Theis C: Nikola Vucevic | Bismack Biyombo
Huge conflict of interest with the same moderator who you reported being the one who suspended you and reviewed the case. Administrator was hugely unhelpful. But usually, they just agree with whatever the moderator did, even more so when its a global mod. I haven't read the rule anywhere, I think its mostly up to the moderator depending on how their day is going (which is bull).
I believe with my post total slowly reaching 2000 I have gained some clout when it comes to these kinds of situations.
8 G: James Harden | Kris Dunn G: Bradley Beal | Josh Richardson F: Paul George | Svi Mykhailiuk F: Neemias Queta| Daniel Theis C: Nikola Vucevic | Bismack Biyombo
MisterHibachi wrote:I think the posts were slightly off topic.
I agree, even if they weren't completely off topic surely it's not like they had two options (warn the poster or suspend the reporter), they could have easily let it go. it's two posts lol somehow that is deemed as excessive/unnecessary/I don't even remember exactly what they called it.
Hmm interesting. I was going to report the "MJ>Kobe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>LeBron" post but I did not. This is why I was apprehensive of using the "report" function before starting to use it after the thread on this board between the mods and posters. I still only try to use it as rarely as possible.
All I will say is I would defer to the judgement of whichever mod gave you that warning in that those posts were not "trolling/derailing/baiting" etc. However, I do think a warning for that is a little excessive. They can always send you a PM and let you know that those posts were not off-topic and you need to be careful (a mod did that for me letting me know that I reported a post which wasn't really trolling). I mean you are only reporting what you think is trolling and they can let you know it's not. If you still continue to "abuse" the function then a warning maybe warranted.
Anyway, that makes me a bit more cautious in using the report function.
Edit: I just saw that you reported a mod's post (tsherkin). I missed that, why would you report that? That post was fine. Only Brenice's post could have been deemed off-topic.
JordansBulls wrote:The Warriors are basically a good college team until they meet a team with bigs in the NBA.
I used to be a mod at some other sites. First and foremost, if I understand correctly, you reported a MODERATOR??? Nooooo no no no no no no. You PM another mod and let them handle it.
You quoted someone's name btw. If HE isn't going to change it though, well...
Anyway it looks like you reported two posts that really didn't have a need to be reported. Just ignore those next time and move on.
Odd though, abuse of the report function is a common rule on forums overall but I'm surprised it isn't posted. Usually I wait until there's some negative responses to that post if it isn't obvious before I report. What that Raptors fan did in last night's game thread is what you would want to report because he was obviously antagonizing a whole fanbase right after a loss. He had some valid, perfectly fine opinions later on but his initial intent was malicious to begin with. In your case, just from what you quoted and posted, they seemed to be valid opinions. Even if it angers you, the posters you quoted didn't break any rules. It would be the equivalent IMO if someone were to interject in that thread and ask where one would place Durant in those categories in comparison to Kobe MJ and LBJ. That's nothing to report.
But there should be an explicit rule about report abuse.
PaulieWal wrote:Anyway, that makes me a bit more cautious in using the report function.
Agreed. This is sending conflicting messages.
On one hand they want us to report every violation we come across, but on the other hand, there is no leeway for reporting posts that end up not being violations.
Why am I gonna use the report function and help the mods keep these boards clean when I can get suspended for my efforts because a mod thinks my history makes my reports biased.
Really disappointed in the administrator's handling of this too. Yeah, the admin answered the original question, but it won't do any harm to keep up the discussion and answer all of whitehops' concerns and follow ups. Last message pretty much came across as a 'f*ck off'.
PaulieWal wrote:Anyway, that makes me a bit more cautious in using the report function.
Agreed. This is sending conflicting messages.
On one hand they want us to report every violation we come across, but on the other hand, there is no leeway for reporting posts that end up not being violations.
Why am I gonna use the report function and help the mods keep these boards clean when I can get suspended for my efforts because a mod thinks my history makes my reports biased.
Really disappointed in the administrator's handling of this too. Yeah, the admin answered the original question, but it won't do any harm to keep up the discussion and answer all of whitehops' concerns and follow ups. Last message pretty much came across as a 'f*ck off'.
Yeah, I agree with you but I don't think tsherkin's post warranted reporting. Even if it did you don't report the mods . Come on now.
I agree with the Brenice post because he has a history of turning every LeBron thread into "LeBron sucks/he is mentally weak blah blah blah". If anything, tsherkin is usually one of the more rational posters on LeBron.
JordansBulls wrote:The Warriors are basically a good college team until they meet a team with bigs in the NBA.
PaulieWal wrote:Anyway, that makes me a bit more cautious in using the report function.
Agreed. This is sending conflicting messages.
On one hand they want us to report every violation we come across, but on the other hand, there is no leeway for reporting posts that end up not being violations.
Why am I gonna use the report function and help the mods keep these boards clean when I can get suspended for my efforts because a mod thinks my history makes my reports biased.
Really disappointed in the administrator's handling of this too. Yeah, the admin answered the original question, but it won't do any harm to keep up the discussion and answer all of whitehops' concerns and follow ups. Last message pretty much came across as a 'f*ck off'.
Yeah, I agree with you but I don't think tsherkin's post warranted reporting. Even if it did you don't report the mods . Come on now.
I agree with the Brenice post because he has a history of turning of turning every LeBron thread into "LeBron sucks/he is mentally weak blah blah blah". If anything, tsherkin is usually one of the more rational posters on LeBron.
Yeah, I just realized whitehops reported tsherkin. Shouldn't have done that, but the first post was off topic enough that a report shouldn't have warranted a suspension. There's gotta be some room for error. Brenice was borderline baiting, as he always does every time he posts on LeBron. A PM should've been enough to tell whitehops that it wasn't a violation and to not report a mod. Suspension was too much.
MisterHibachi wrote: Agreed. This is sending conflicting messages.
On one hand they want us to report every violation we come across, but on the other hand, there is no leeway for reporting posts that end up not being violations.
Why am I gonna use the report function and help the mods keep these boards clean when I can get suspended for my efforts because a mod thinks my history makes my reports biased.
Really disappointed in the administrator's handling of this too. Yeah, the admin answered the original question, but it won't do any harm to keep up the discussion and answer all of whitehops' concerns and follow ups. Last message pretty much came across as a 'f*ck off'.
Yeah, I agree with you but I don't think tsherkin's post warranted reporting. Even if it did you don't report the mods . Come on now.
I agree with the Brenice post because he has a history of turning of turning every LeBron thread into "LeBron sucks/he is mentally weak blah blah blah". If anything, tsherkin is usually one of the more rational posters on LeBron.
Yeah, I just realized whitehops reported tsherkin. Shouldn't have done that, but the first post was off topic enough that a report shouldn't have warranted a suspension. There's gotta be some room for error. Brenice was borderline baiting, as he always does every time he posts on LeBron. A PM should've been enough to tell whitehops that it wasn't a violation and to not report a mod. Suspension was too much.
I agree on Brenice. I think he only posts on LeBron threads to say the same thing every single time .
But I think the fact that he reported Brenice along with a mod tipped the scales against him and the mod probably thought that our boy hops was trolling or "abusing" the report function.
I hope you can post again on GB, hops.
JordansBulls wrote:The Warriors are basically a good college team until they meet a team with bigs in the NBA.
the first post was off topic, and the side conversation was continuing so I thought I would report it before it got out of hand. why does it matter who posted? policemen have to follow the laws as well and can get arrested when breaking the law... nobody is above the law.
the offensive rebounding thread about Drummond on the GB almost instantly turned into a Drummond vs. valanciunas debate, and then poor 'shawn unkept' got suspended for backseat moderating on page FIVE, i'm guessing for saying something like 'this isn't the PC board'. the thread is now on the ninth page and going strong with the drummond vs. JV posts. the thread has not been closed or moved, and there have been no posts from a mod saying 'keep it on topic' in all nine pages. what does one do in a situation like that when the mods clearly don't care if it's off topic. it's like the sensible rules go completely out the window.
whitehops wrote:the first post was off topic, and the side conversation was continuing so I thought I would report it before it got out of hand. why does it matter who posted? policemen have to follow the laws as well and can get arrested when breaking the law... nobody is above the law.
the offensive rebounding thread about Drummond on the GB almost instantly turned into a Drummond vs. valanciunas debate, and then poor 'shawn unkept' got suspended for backseat moderating on page FIVE, i'm guessing for saying something like 'this isn't the PC board'. the thread is now on the ninth page and going strong with the drummond vs. JV posts. the thread has not been closed or moved, and there have been no posts from a mod saying 'keep it on topic' in all nine pages. what does one do in a situation like that when the mods clearly don't care if it's off topic. it's like the sensible rules go completely out the window.
Rules in society and rules on an internet forum a totally different. That being said; there's just some things you don't do in society even though it isn't against the law and there's some things you don't do on a forum to mods even if it isn't breaking a rule. Apply common sense. You reported a global mod? Good lord. No wonder this is being handled by the higher ups "poorly". The mod team will come on here and say that if anyone breaks the rules, including mods -to report them. Seriously, never ever use the report function on a mod. PM a mod on your hometeam's forum to solve that problem and ignore that poster until it gets handled. If you can't handle that, just lurk on forums instead of posting.
Thread topics can shift over time. Drummond is a great offensive rebounder. He is good but I don't he's as good as JV at rebounds. Is JV an overall better player. This happens quite often. That's normal. But to go and say Kobe is GOAT in that thread is off topic. That's when you use the report function. If these little things frustrate you to the point tht you can't ignore it, log off. No one is personally attacking you.
Chances are, this gets locked up and/or deleted. You get PM'd and it's done.
KingDavid wrote:Rules in society and rules on an internet forum a totally different. That being said; there's just some things you don't do in society even though it isn't against the law and there's some things you don't do on a forum to mods even if it isn't breaking a rule. Apply common sense. You reported a global mod? Good lord. No wonder this is being handled by the higher ups "poorly". The mod team will come on here and say that if anyone breaks the rules, including mods -to report them. Seriously, never ever use the report function on a mod. PM a mod on your hometeam's forum to solve that problem and ignore that poster until it gets handled. If you can't handle that, just lurk on forums instead of posting.
Thread topics can shift over time. Drummond is a great offensive rebounder. He is good but I don't he's as good as JV at rebounds. Is JV an overall better player. This happens quite often. That's normal. But to go and say Kobe is GOAT in that thread is off topic. That's when you use the report function. If these little things frustrate you to the point tht you can't ignore it, log off. No one is personally attacking you.
Chances are, this gets locked up and/or deleted. You get PM'd and it's done.
I didn't even notice it was a mod's post until afterwards. does that make me deserve a suspension, as opposed to it simply being ignored? yeah I didn't feel like saying, 'sorry I never would have reported that if I noticed it was you!', silly me. and a milestone thread about Drummond was turned into a debate, in which many people simply trashed on Drummond. how a thread honouring his big feat turns into an opportunity to point out every little flaw he has isn't cool in my book.
nobody attacked me personally, it just frustrates me because I've tried to get back to being able to post in the GB for about five months now and I have to wait two more with this suspension because of a rule they put in place. it frustrates me that the moderating team values that waiting period rule so highly and then they simply don't care when a thread blatantly goes off topic for nine pages, which one would think is an obvious thing to take care of. the only person in that thread that got punished is the one who pointed out that it is off topic... think about that for a second. yes, he broke a rule but so did dozens of others. this tells me they value the backseat moderating rule very highly but do diddly squat when actual moderating has to be done.
MisterHibachi wrote: What's higher up than an administrator tho?
I believe with my post total slowly reaching 2000 I have gained some clout when it comes to these kinds of situations.
you're joking right
Alright at this pace I am approaching 2000 posts at a moderate pace, man you take all the fun out of it
8 G: James Harden | Kris Dunn G: Bradley Beal | Josh Richardson F: Paul George | Svi Mykhailiuk F: Neemias Queta| Daniel Theis C: Nikola Vucevic | Bismack Biyombo
. Come on now. 
